Have a family summer adventure at The Dinosaur Place

I'm Natasha Lubchenko with today's CT Style Express. If you and your family are looking for some summer fun, take a trip back in time and visit the dinosaur place at Nature's Art Village. With 60 acres to explore and life-sized creatures around every corner, you're sure to find a dino-sized adventure. Millions of years ago, in a land not so far away, lived the dinosaurs. Big ones, little ones, and ones that sounded like this. Roar! Okay, not quite like that, but you get the idea. Here at the dinosaur place in Oakdale, you can find over 50 life-sized dinosaurs throughout the one-and-a-half miles of trails. Roger Phillips, who owns the park with his wife, drove me around to see why it's the perfect day trip this summer. I think in the lower grades, kids start to learn about dinosaurs. They get excited about it. And to have a dinosaur park where they can see full-sized replicas, even a couple of live ones, as we say, they get a kick out of it. I actually really like dinosaurs. We've done documents at school about dinosaurs. What about them did you like? The giant claws, because there's actually a dinosaur down there. Their claw, just their claw was this big. My tour started here at the Splash Pad, which is dino-themed, of course. This is one of the biggest Splash Pads in New England. That, again, is interactive. The kids absolutely love them. It's a zero-depth Splash Pad. If the child is old enough to stand up, they can use it. I met families from all over who came to cool down on this hot summer day. Andre Lopez and his son Adrian are from Rhode Island. Definitely a good day trip for the family. Good for everyone to just hang out. Extremely hot, so having the Splash Pad here, especially as large as it is, really nice. Dinosaurs, everything to keep the children interested. Next on our journey, the T-Rex Tower made for lots of jumping and climbing, and the Carnivore Caves, where I made some new friends. And here we're at the park's newest attraction, Lapilli Landing. Over there, we've got some mini-golf, and over here, we've got pedal carts, and I'm gonna give it a try. We're gonna see how this goes. All right, woo-hoo! Well, the pedal cart was something designed for the older child or the young adult who can pedal on it, as yourself. You pedaled the track. How'd you think I did? I think you did good. You're a little slow on your time, but you did okay. I guess I'll have to work on my speed next time. And once you've spent the day in the park, you can head inside to discover beautiful crystals, ancient dinosaur bones, and a whole lot more, which Phillip says just adds to the educational experience. Well, that's probably the best thing about the entire job is that many families have thanked us for having the place, a place for them to come, a place where they feel safe to bring their children, places to interact with, a place where they can learn about dinosaurs and other things of nature. The Dinosaur Place is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. To learn more and to plan your visit, go to naturesartvillage.com. For CT Style, I'm Natasha Lubchenco.